Beth Mead still has huge value to Arsenal, despite questions over her future

One of Arsenal’s coaching staff once said something interesting about the value of Beth Mead to the club, at a time when they were focusing on growing their attendance figures: she is the only player who celebrates goals with the supporters, rather than with her team-mates.

Most other Arsenal — and Women’s Super League in general — players have a habit of instantly turning back inwards and hugging team-mates. Her team-mate Stina Blackstenius always looks almost embarrassed to be the centre of attention, and wants to bury her head in a huddle amongst other players.

But Mead — who made her WSL debut over a decade ago, when the average crowd in the division was only 1,000, and so perhaps appreciates a 30,000 crowd more than most — always looks first and foremost to the fans. That makes them feel part of the action, not merely an observer of it.

That sprung to mind when Mead slammed home the opener here at Stamford Bridge, then raced raced away to celebrate in front of the away supporters, banging her the Arsenal crest on her shirt.

This felt like a big moment. Arsenal’s away support is unquestionably the largest and noisiest in the league, and this is always their biggest away game of the season. The away section at Stamford Bridge, beside the goal, steep and almost on top of the pitch, is the most visually striking in the league.

Arsenal supporters spent most of the game mocking Chelsea for their lack of European Cup victories. It’s 2-0 on that count. And it was 2-0 at full-time here, after Mead assisted Mariona Caldentey’s careful, measured finish.

It wasn’t just that it was Arsenal’s first victory at Chelsea since 2018, and their first at Stamford Bridge. It was also that the opener was — somewhat surprisingly — Mead’s first WSL goal of the season.

And this is what Mead is all about, decisive contributions at the big moments. Mead sometimes feels unfashionable compared to equivalents in her position. At international level, she doesn’t have the crossing ability of Chloe Kelly, the top speed of Lauren Hemp nor the flair of Lauren James. When her side is performing badly, you sometimes want someone who offers a wider range of qualities.

But she averages a goal every other game for England, and tends to come up with big goals too. Even at her peak, Euro 2022, she wasn’t actually one of England’s best performers throughout the tournament. Millie Bright, Leah Williamson and Keira Walsh were all more consistent, and England got their crucial goals in the quarter-final and final after Mead had been substituted.

But Mead ended the tournament with six goals and five assists from six games, and inevitably was crowned the hero. Mead doesn’t always play well. But she gets goals, and gets assists. She’s second on the all-time list of WSL goal contributions, and the only player above her on the list — former Arsenal team-mate and her partner, Vivianne Miedema — has been assisted more by Mead than any other player.

Here at Stamford Bridge, her role was not really that of a right-winger, more as an inside-right. Full-back Emily Fox played extraordinarily high up the pitch, occupying Chelsea’s left-wing-back Sandy Baltimore. That meant Mead tucked inside, and dragged Bright up towards her, which opened up space in Chelsea’s defence.

“Mead’s position was hurting us a little bit,” said Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor. “We spoke about that beforehand, and we didn’t deal with that situation as we wanted.”

After full-time, even opposition players looked pleased for Mead. There was a lengthy discussion with Bright, and warm embraces with other friends from England duty, Walsh and Niamh Charles.

Arsenal’s media team mobbed her and directed her to the post-match interview, where she received the award for player of the match, which meant she — ironically — was the only player who missed the post-match celebrations with the fans. The party only truly got started when she sprinted over and fans chanted her name.

“When the moment is there for this team, when it really, really has to happen, they deliver every time,” said Arsenal manager Renee Slegers after the game. Mead personifies that. But equally, that underlines Arsenal’s issue: they turn up for the big games, but not every week. This is a side who are European champions, but have only won one of the last 13 WSL titles, and have more regularly finished third rather than second over the last decade.

There’s a sense that a big overhaul of the Arsenal squad might be coming this summer, and that they might shed a few fan favourites. Mead has been linked with a move to London City Lionesses, who will continue to sign top-level players. But whatever the future holds, few players have done as much as Mead to grow Arsenal into the most-supported women’s team in the country.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Arsenal, Women's Soccer

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